Something Lost, Something Found

May 27, 2013 | Humour, XAging, Yoga practices | 0 comments

forgetting
Years ago I saw a movie called “Something’s Got to Give”, starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton as seniors who were experiencing a bumpy road in dealing with the process of ageing.
One of the sight gags that ran through the movie was the both of them, sequentially, misplacing their reading glasses. The audience, an older crowd, laughed out loud each time the actors lost their glasses.
I’ve just spend 20 minutes today looking for my reading glasses and they haven’t turned up as yet. It would seem they aren’t in any of the logical places I looked – a fact that points to my glasses either being in some remote location or in an absurd place, like the freezer. (No, I haven’t gone there yet.)
Many – maybe most – people my age, make self-depracating remarks when they have lost their keys or left the shopping list at home or forgotten to turn the flame down on their morning porridge. This sort of negative self-talk adds an overlay to forgetfulness, which becomes predictive, that is, a self-fulfilling prophesy.
We humans seem much better at self-flagellation than self-forgiveness. Why is that? (And, it’s really not any better to put oneself down than it is to do it to another.)
I’ve discovered a powerful yoga practice is to let go of any judgments whenever absentmindedness occurs and send myself some love for all the things I manage in my life. Forgetfulness can be an opportunity to practice loving kindness.
I decided that, if my glasses turn up, good, and if not, I’m not in any way defective. It helps that I don’t buy designer frames anymore. Here’s a link for the Chinese mob we buy from these days, at a cost that’s less than a tenth of what you might pay at your local optometrist. Not necessarily disposable glasses, but less need to cry over their loss.

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